Azure-naped jay | |
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Photo taken east of Mitú, Colombia | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genus: | Cyanocorax |
Species: | C. heilprini |
Binomial name | |
Cyanocorax heilprini A. F. Gentry, 1885 | |
The azure-naped jay (Cyanocorax heilprini) is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
The Azure-naped jay was first described by Alan F. Gentry based on a single specimen, marked as a male, from the T. B. Wilson Collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. [2]
The genus Cyanocorax comes from the Ancient Greek kuanos (dark blue) and korax (raven). The species epithet heilprini honours Gentry's friend, Professor Angelo Heilprin. [3] There are two identified subspecies:
The back is dark brown, as are the upper sides of the wings and tail. The rear crown and nape are bright lavender blue. The front and sides of the head are black, with the feathers of the forecrown and forehead curled up and forwards in a short bushy crest. From the chin to the centre of the breast the bird is dark violaceous-grey. The lower breast and belly are violaceous, fading to white on the lower belly and vent. The eyes are pale to yellowish-white and the bill, feet and legs are black. [6]
This species is a native resident species of the Amazon basin, found from Southeast Colombia to Southwest Venezuela (Amazonas) and extreme northwest Brazil. [7]
It is a bird of the lower tropical zone, found at altitudes of 250m and below. Its preferred habitat is stunted forests, forest edges and second growth on sandy soils in the upper Río Negro basin, as well as in lighter savannah woodland. [6] Two recent surveys of birds Amazon basin found the Azure-naped jay is endemic to areas of white sand forest, and is not found in nearby areas of nearby terra firme forests, seasonally flooded forests and Amazonian savannas. [8] [9]
These birds are found in noisy groups that travel slowly, foraging at all levels. They are wary of observers and will utter alarm cries, taking turns to observe an intruder before moving on, or simply disappear into surrounding vegetation. [6]
The azure-naped jay is rated a species of Least Concern by Birdlife International, because it occurs over a very large range and the population, though declining, is not thought to be declining rapidly enough to reach the threshold of Vulnerable status. [7]
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 135 species are included in this family. The genus Corvus containing 47 species makes up over a third of the entire family. Corvids (ravens) are the largest passerines.
The Guianan trogon, is a near passerine bird in the trogon and quetzal family Trogonidae. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, and Venezuela.
The blue-gray tanager is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima (Peru). On Trinidad and Tobago, this bird is called blue jean.
The yellow-crowned amazon or yellow-crowned parrot is a species of parrot native to tropical South America, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean. The taxonomy is highly complex and the yellow-headed and yellow-naped amazon are sometimes considered subspecies of the yellow-crowned amazon. Except in the taxonomic section, the following deals only with the nominate group .They are found in the Amazon basin.
The red-throated piping guan is a species of bird in the chachalaca, guan, and curassow family Cracidae. It is found in Bolivia and Brazil.
The eastern striolated puffbird is a species of bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Bolivia and Brazil.
The violaceous quail-dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.
The curve-billed scythebill is a species of bird in the ovenbird family. It is found in Amazonia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The black-chested jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae.
The white-naped jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is endemic to Brazil - where it is known as the Gralha Cancã or the Cancão. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest.
The San Blas jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae. It is endemic to Mexico where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests; it is a common species and has been rated as "least concern" by the IUCN.
The violaceous jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae, the crows and their allies.
The Yucatan jay is a species of bird in the family Corvidae, the crows and their allies. It is native to the Yucatán Peninsula where its habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forest, plantations and cleared areas at altitudes up to 250 m (820 ft). Adults are about 30 cm (12 in) long, black, with blue wings, mantle, and tail, black bills, yellow eye rings and legs. Immature birds have yellow bills. This is a common species of jay with a wide range and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The Coraya wren is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae, the wrens.
The Santarém parakeet, also known as Hellmayr's parakeet or in aviculture as Hellmayr's conure or the Santarém conure, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is found in the eastern and central sections of the Amazon basin south of the Amazon River, only just extending onto the northern bank of this river.
The gartered trogon, also known as the northern violaceous trogon, is a bird in the family Trogonidae, the quetzals and trogons. It is found in Mexico, all of Central America, and Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
The Amazonian trogon, is a bird in the family Trogonidae, the trogons and quetzals. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
Igapó is a word used in Brazil for blackwater-flooded forests in the Amazon biome. These forests and similar swamp forests are seasonally inundated with freshwater. They typically occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found in a range of climate zones, from boreal through temperate and subtropical to tropical. In the Amazon Basin of Brazil, a seasonally whitewater-flooded forest is known as a várzea, which is similar to igapó in many regards; the key difference between the two habitats is in the type of water that floods the forest.
The Campina jay is a passerine from the genus Cyanocorax, a group of jays which occur in the Neotropics. It was first discovered in August 2002 by Mario Cohn-Haft but stayed unrecognised for two and a half years until the holotype was collected in January 2005. In 2013, this species was formally described in the Handbook of the Birds of the World. The species' epithet commemorates Dr. Jürgen Haffer, an ornithologist from Germany, best known for his Pleistocene refugia hypothesis developed in 1969. The common name campina refers to its specific habitat, a cerrado-like open savanna in the Amazon River basin in Brazil.
The Negro–Branco moist forests (NT0143) is an ecoregion of tropical moist broadleaf forest to the east of the Andes in southern Venezuela, eastern Colombia and northern Brazil, in the Amazon biome. It lies on the watershed between the Orinoco and Rio Negro basins. It includes both blackwater and whitewater rivers, creating different types of seasonally flooded forest. The vegetation is more typical of the Guiana region than the Amazon.